JUPITER, Fla. (KRON) — A Florida man who initially said he believed the coronavirus was a “fake crisis” that was “blown out of proportion” is now hospitalized with the virus, along with his wife, and he has a warning for others.

“Many people still think that the Coronavirus is a fake crisis which at one time I did too and not that I thought it wasn’t a real virus going around but at one time I felt that it was blown out of proportion and it wasn’t that serious,” Brian Hitchens wrote in a lengthy Facebook post.

Hitchens said he continued to downplay the pandemic until he began feeling sick and couldn’t work anymore.

Just days after he became sick, Hitchens said his wife also started feeling sick, went to a hospital and was told to self-quarantine.

Their conditions worsened, and they were admitted into a local medical center.

“They admitted us right away, and we both went to ICU. I started feeling better within a few days, but my wife got worse to the point where they sedated her and put her on the ventilator,” he said.

He said he was never put on a ventilator.

“Never had terrible aches and pains just weak and exhausted,” Hitchens said, adding that his wife remains sedated.

“After 3 weeks I have come to accept that my wife may pass away and the peace I have about it is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that she will be going home to be with the Lord but I also do believe in miracles and I’m holding on to the chance that she may get healed but if not I am thankful for her I know we’ve been married for 8 years,” he said.

He added, “So think about what I wrote and think about if this thing is a fake crisis.”

“Looking back I should have wore a mask in the beginning but I didn’t and perhaps I’m paying the price for it now but I know that if it was me that gave it to my wife I know that she forgives me and I know that God forgives me,” he added.

Hitchens told WPTV he once thought that “maybe the government trying something, and it was kind of like they threw it out there to kinda distract us.”

At last check, there were more than 46,000 confirmed cases in Florida, with nearly 2,000 deaths.